With the No. 17 overall pick, the Raiders tapped Alabama tackle Alex Leatherwood. Leatherwood wasn’t widely viewed as a mid-first rounder, but GM Mike Mayock has never been afraid to think outside the box. 
Pundits may have mixed opinions about Leatherwood, but the offensive line was unquestionably among the Raiders’ biggest needs heading into tonight. Now without Gabe Jackson, Rodney Hudson, and Trent Brown. While they have Denzelle Good, Andre James, and Nick Martin to manage the interior, Leatherwood will be tasked with protecting the edge.
Leatherwood’s stock might have been higher last year. However, he opted to return to school and watch tackles Jedrick Wills Jr., Andrew Thomas, Tristan Wirfs, and Austin Jackson go pro ahead of him. At the pro level, he’ll look to reward Mayock’s confidence at the tackle position, though his long-term future could be at guard.
Mayock has delivered his first shock of the night, but he’ll have plenty of opportunities to stun the league throughout the weekend. As of this writing, the Raiders hold:
- Round 2: No. 48
- Round 3: No. 79 (from Cardinals), 80
- Round 3: No. 80
- Round 4: No. 121
- Round 5: No. 162 (from Dolphins), 167 (from Seahawks)
- Round 5: No. 167 (from Seahawks)
- Round 6: No. 200
Terrible pick
what a joke the Raiders are lolol i love it.
Love these premature comments lol and I’m not even a raiders fan.
whats so premature about, the dude is NOT a 1st rounders bro… lolol what u think about it??
Just because some moron like Mel kiper says someone is a first rounder doesn’t make in so lol. Only idiots like you believe morons like that guy, he is wrong 90 percent of the time. I still am not crazy about pick but only time will tell
I like the player but not in the first
I didn’t say terrible player, I said terrible pick. He was rated as a 2nd round talent and they reached for him just like Arnette last year and Ferrell the year before. I think if they liked him that much they could’ve moved up in the 2nd to grab him while addressing something else with the 17th pick…he projects to be a guard and I think he’ll be a damn fine player but the point is that Mayock always reaches instead of getting the player he absolutely has to have at the appropriate slot
Bingo. As a Raiders fan, this frustrates me. It’s not so much the player, but taking the player where they did. If that’s the guy you want, fine- but trade back and pick up assets before you take him. They need so much defensive help. An extra 2nd or 3rd pick would have been wonderful. Instead they reached again. It doesn’t make them look genius even if he hits. They look foolish.
What the actual F
Grading the pick I see.
Mike Mayock is getting out drafted by Jerry Jones?
According to grades/pundits he’s a late second rounder. But are any of the commenters real draft analysts? I’m pretty sure he won a lot of awards in college so I’m guessing he’s solid. Raiders fans also thought Kolton Miller was a reach and I think they’re pretty happy with the pick.
He’s a good player and it sounds like he’ll be even better deployed as a guard but I’m just sick of us not maximizing our draft position for the players they want. If they wanted him they could’ve even traded down in the 1st to get some more draft capital.
Agreed. But based on who went the pick before- it’s clear the trade up players are gone. If he was their guy, sounds like they didn’t have any takers to move back
Possibly. I think that there could’ve been someone willing to jump up and grab someone at 17 but you might be right. The other thing that makes me skeptical that they even tried very hard is that they’ve done this for the 4th draft in a row now from Miller, Ferrell, Arnette and now Leatherwood
New Orleans probably would have been interested in moving to 17 to get Farley. Leatherwood would still have been there at 28.
bigeasye • 15 hours ago
sounds like they didn’t have any takers to move back
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I agree in principal this pick was not going to be highly valued. But I can’t believe no one would give up maybe a #25 and a 4th rounder. Even if they are only crumbs, we need as many crumbs as possible.
To quote the guy that drafted him… “lotta dumbass picks”
Again, it always feels like we are drafting a guy at least 5 slots too early. In this case, close to a full round too early.
…and with their 2021 2nd round pick, the Las Vegas Raiders select a cheerleader.
Raiders being Raiders. LOL
Not the worst pick, but probably a reach. Leatherwood is an experienced player, and the Raiders have shown that, in the Mayock regime, they are very willing to spend valuable picks for character and culture building. There’s arguments for and against that, but the advantage the brain trust in Vegas has is that it is signed for a long time. If that culture approach will work, it will take a long time. Aside from that, Leatherwood looks like a good player, so hopefully for the Raiders he ends up being worth it on the field.
The one thing I will say that makes me wonder is this: I feel like they could have retained Trent Brown this year and used this pick somewhere else and gotten a better value. At the very least, it could have tided them over (no pun intended) for a year while they addressed that defense or gotten a good receiver (like Bateman or Ole Miss’ wideout whose name escapes me).
The culture/character argument is a hard sell because they are moving on from many of the players this regime drafted. It looks less like a long term plan and more like no plan. You could argue that when Gruden was hired the strength of the team was the O-line. He immediately set about blowing it up and rebuilding it. To his credit, the line he created was fine when healthy, but more expensive. Now he is rebuilding it again. While other aspects of the roster continue to need attention.
I agree with that. To note, I am not exactly justifying the pick or the character strategy, just trying to explain it. They seem to believe championship pedigrees are important in a player, which I get, but the pick still needs to be efficient because the players do still have to, you know, play.
Well if he is as tough as Leather….Wood, he will be Okay
Could have chosen another DE and still grabbed this guy in the 2nd. I don’t understand this pick.
I am completely baffled at this pick. You can’t say this pick is justified because there is 3 guys better then him on the board at this time. That being said, Alex Leatherwood is a very good player. He was a team captain at Alabama which in itself says alot. Mike Mayock knows his stuff when it comes to evaluation but I am thinking they could have traded back and still got him.
They could’ve taken Paye, and traded up from their 2nd rounder and gotten both.
Hopefully he can play defense as an edge rusher.
Just biatching here, but I am annoyed that they showed the war room and they were high-fiving.
It’s not like their favorite player dropped and they got what they considered a steal, like maybe the Bears & Fields. It’s not like they traded back, and still got the guy they wanted.
They basically drafted a guy that no one the world would’ve picked at #17, and patted themselves on the back for having done so.
I can agree with that, actually, and I’m not even a Raiders fan.